Breakthrough - I Think

Of course I am grateful to Dr. Clouthier, Ashely, Dr. Martin, Sam Fontentot, PT, Bruce Forsyth, PT, Randall Fukuji, PT and Tom Dalonzo Baker, PT. These are my main "go to" pros. But even if I saw one of them every day I still have 23 hours left that I can be doing something for myself. At least now that my day isn't spent laying on ice with my legs up.

I went out today and ran 8 X 100m very easy and 1 X 50 hill before stopping. The hill felt like a little too much impact/power for this stage of where I am, thus only one. Having done ZERO for three weeks I want to stay well within myself. I keep hearing "jammed hip" from that squat rep, and then once on the trip I stepped quickly to the right and felt it "jam back in", so I guess that's part of the issue. It's still there but I felt amazingly good on the flights and with all of the walking around, sitting and standing during the trip.

So today when I'm walking to the car I had a vision of my own traction machine. I went home and attached a dog leash around my ankle and hooked the other to the cable link where I would sit to do seated rows. I stood up, took the slack out and leaned forward over my bench like I was going to lay on a surfboard. This provided a really nice and constant strong tension/traction on my hip. Then I lay on my back and sat back and did the same thing. I did this between all of my stretches. After a few series of these I dropped the weight down to 50 lbs. so it would give. This way I could crawl up to a support position and then let the weight just pull on the ankle. Again, I could feel the muscles fighting the tension and then they just "let go". That was about three hours ago and now I feel brand new. Below is a photo of my new traction setup that I will incorporate in with my stretching.

I had mentioned before that I came up with a little ball system to put direct pressure to the points that are really tight or tender. The pink thing is actually a business card holder I got to use as a runway marker. Obviously because it is pink I have chosen not to use it for that. That little pointed end hurts like crazy so I put 1/2 of a racquetball over it. PERFECT. So I also do these pressure point rotations between stretching. Whatever it takes. At least I feel better and am training again! Bubba

Home Sweet Home ...

Got home about 8 AM this morning after the 8 hour flight. Slept some but not great. Glad to be home and ready to train. I'll start with my easy running tomorrow rather than waiting for Sunday. Have a great day! Bubba

One More Day

Photos from our balcony at the Turtle Bay Resort. The top goes on the right and the bottom goes on the left to make a landscape panorama. This blog doesn't allow that but you get the idea. You can click to enlarge. I always enjoy our vacations but I'm also ready to get home when they are over. Not training for three weeks has made it worse so I can't wait for Sunday to get started again. Our flight is tomorrow (Thursday) at 7 PM but that is midnight Houston time so we arrive at 8 AM. Should be a decent sleep.

I don't really care how slow the ramp up is as long as I start. Lots of stretching on this trip. Some things that used to cause nerve pain do not anymore but a few things still do but to a lesser degree. The faster I get back to activity the faster it will get better.

That's it for now. Have a great evening! Bubba

Meeting Day

I have partners here in Hawaii and today is my meeting day. Normally when I come I'm in meetings pretty much nonstop but since I set this up as a vacation then I'm only going today.

Traveling - seems like we travel a lot. It's actually been just the opposite. The reality is that because Nancy's late mother, June, lived with us for six years. During that time we could never both go away unless June was with us; like our Maine vacation to see her brother and June's son. So for six years Nancy has not been able to travel with me at all. When June died, part of the agreement was to get out a little more. I think this helps Nancy past the grief a bit, as well as gives us a chance to do a few things we have wanted to do. We understood when we invited June to live with us that it would sacrifice travel and that was OK. So we're making up for some of it now.

Felt a little flare yesterday during strides but it didn't blow up into anything big. I'll get a big stretch in this afternoon and be VERY slow to ramp up my running next week. That's it for now as I've gotta run. Have a great day. Bubba

Aloha From Hawaii

Shockingly my back gave me no problems on the eight hour flight and feels pretty good this morning too. I must actually be getting well. I'll do some very easy strides and big stretch later today.

The weather is a little overcast and drizzly but the scenery is still beautiful. We will take it easy and check out some of the area's stuff. STOP - FIRE ALARM - Everyone out of the building. Back later. Hope my computer will be.

Some idiot pulled a fire alarm trying to get in the shortcut to breakfast. Here's a photo of the first group out by the pool waiting for the "All Clear".

Yesterday on the flight I listened to my MP3 which of course has all of my training music. I was getting pretty pumped up about this rebirth in training. BIG commitment to running, and technique. I HAVE to get to the next level or I will not be competitive next year at Worlds. This isn't an option. With National Senior Games in Houston and Worlds in Sacramento, I have to get so 4m (13' 1 1/2") is my opening height.

Off to town. Have a great day! Bubba

Another Fun Video From Mark Stewart

Marks sends these out when his vaulters come up with a new compilation. This is one of his top guys, Joel Pocklington. Enjoy. Bubba
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Y-lOys6qFQ

Going Away But Coming Back

Yesterday my nerve part of my back seemed to be easing back in and with it came tiny spasms. Since I had done nothing different I made an assumption that I should do a stretching session since that tends to be the way my treatments with Ashley end. I even did a couple of little 20m jogs in between some of the stretches. It went well but I was stiff and triggered some nerve pain.

For the next two hours I thought maybe I had made a mistake. My reasoning was that I could get in to see Ashley this morning if need be so I might as well try it. As the day went on I felt more mobile and had some relief. This morning I feel by far better than I have in the past three weeks. Not brand new but easily the best I have felt.

SO - I will repeat the process today and hope it feels even better before my eight hour plane flight to Hawaii tomorrow. Again, I'm very optimistic that I'm coming back good. In fact, since it's seven weeks away, I'm not writing off that I may jump in the Quintana Beach Vault. I'll take it slow and play it by ear.

The spasms are in the right side glute so I took a half raquet ball rubber piece and put it over a golf ball and rolled around on it really trying to break up the muscle in that area. BINGO!! Hit the spot and gave me great relief. This s certainly not an Ashley replacement but since I couldn't see her before I go it was worth the experiment. Today I will buy a raquet ball, handball, tennis ball, and golf ball for my rotation or rolling muscles around with various tensions and contact sizes. I'll take those and my stretch rope to Hawaii and use it after I come in from the pool or beach. The plan is to try and get some easy jog/skip drills in the water just to introduce mobility without impact. Should be fun.

Thanks for being here and I'll keep you posted and maybe get up some photos as well. Have a great day! Bubba